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leviathan

Leviathan

Myths and Legends of the World | 2001 | Copyright

Leviathan

The sea serpent Leviathan is mentioned several times in the Old Testament of the Bible. Legends about this immense and powerful creature were based on earlier stories about Tiamat, a dragon defeated by the god Marduk in a Babylonian creation myth. Later a similar tale appeared among the ancient Canaanites, who claimed that the god Baal slaughtered a seven-headed primeval serpent named Lotan.

primeval from the earliest times

chaos great disorder or confusion

In the Bible, Leviathan roamed the sea, breathing fire and spewing smoke from his nostrils. The book of Psalms describes how the Hebrew god Yahweh struggled with the many-headed Leviathan and killed it during a battle with the waters of chaos. Yahweh then created the universe, day and night, and the four seasons. Scriptural references to the end of time say that the flesh of Leviathan will be part of a feast served on the Day of Judgment.

See also Baal; Creation Stories; Dragons; Marduk; Semitic Mythology; Serpents and Snakes; Tiamat.
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Leviathan

The Oxford Companion to British History | 2002 | | Copyright

Leviathan (1651) was the masterpiece on political philosophy written by Thomas Hobbes to justify absolute sovereignty. Hobbes held that the greatest threat to human security was the anarchy of the ‘State of Nature’, and that to avoid that horrific condition, where life was ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short’, men must contract to establish a sovereign power with sufficient authority to enforce laws and maintain order. Hobbes claimed that the recent civil wars in England would never have occurred if men had followed the path of reason and worked out the necessary truths of political obligation.

Tim S. Gray
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JOHN CANNON. "Leviathan." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN CANNON. "Leviathan." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-Leviathan.html

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leviathan

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | 2009 | Copyright

le·vi·a·than / ləˈvīə[unvoicedth]ən/ • n. (in biblical use) a sea monster, identified in different passages with the whale and the crocodile (e.g., Job 41, Ps. 74:14), and with the Devil (after Isa. 27:1). ∎  a very large aquatic creature, esp. a whale: the great leviathans of the deep. ∎  a thing that is very large or powerful, esp. a ship. ∎  an autocratic monarch or state. [ORIGIN: with allusion to Hobbes' Leviathan (1651).]

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Leviathan

A Dictionary of British History | 2004 | | Copyright

Leviathan (1651) was the masterpiece on political philosophy written by Thomas Hobbes to justify absolute sovereignty. Hobbes held that the greatest threat to human security was the anarchy of the ‘State of Nature’, and that to avoid that horrific condition, where life was ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short’, men must contract to establish a sovereign power with sufficient authority to enforce laws and maintain order.
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JOHN CANNON. "Leviathan." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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leviathan

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable | 2006 | | Copyright

leviathan in biblical use, a sea monster, taken as the type of something of enormous size. It is identified in different passages with the whale and the crocodile (e.g. Job 41, Psalm 74:14), and with the Devil (after Isaiah 27:1). The word is also used allusively for an absolute monarch or state, from the title of Thomas Hobbes's 1651 political study Leviathan.
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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "leviathan." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "leviathan." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-leviathan.html

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leviathan

A Dictionary of the Bible | 1997 | | Copyright

leviathan A mythological sea monster who was said to have been defeated by the god Baal. The myth surfaces in the OT where Yahweh has replaced Baal (Ps. 74: 13–14); and the destruction of Leviathan symbolized for Isaiah (27: 1) the final death of the unredeemed—who did not include Israel (Isa. 26: 2 f.; 27: 12–13).
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W. R. F. BROWNING. "leviathan." A Dictionary of the Bible. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

W. R. F. BROWNING. "leviathan." A Dictionary of the Bible. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O94-leviathan.html

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leviathan

The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea | 2006 | Copyright

leviathan, in its scriptural meaning a gigantic sea animal, the maritime equivalent of the behemoth ashore. It has been described in the Bible as a crocodile (Job 41: 15) and as a sea dragon or serpent (Isaiah 27: 1). In modern usage it is mostly taken to mean a whale and, by extension, a very large ship.
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Leviathan

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church | 2000 | | Copyright

Leviathan. A mythological sea-serpent or dragon mentioned in the Ugaritic texts, the OT, and later Jewish literature. The name was transferred to the devil. T. Hobbes gave his treatise on ‘the matter, form, and power of a Commonwealth’ this title.
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E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "Leviathan." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "Leviathan." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-Leviathan.html

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leviathan

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. | 2008 | Copyright

leviathan , in the Bible, aquatic monster, presumably the crocodile, the whale, or a dragon. It was a symbol of evil to be ultimately defeated by the power of good.

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leviathan

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology | 1996 | | Copyright

leviathan large aquatic animal in the Bible; †Satan XIV; used by Hobbes for the commonwealth 1651. — L. — Heb. liwyāthān.
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T. F. HOAD. "leviathan." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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Leviathan

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions | 1997 | | Copyright

Leviathan. A large sea animal. In the Hebrew scriptures, the leviathan frequently represents the forces of chaos which are opposed to God.
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JOHN BOWKER. "Leviathan." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN BOWKER. "Leviathan." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Leviathan.html

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Leviathan

World Encyclopedia | 2005 | Copyright

Leviathan In the Old Testament, an immense serpent living in the depths of the ocean. It embodied everything evil.
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leviathan

Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes | 2007 | Copyright

leviathan •Melanchthon •lengthen, strengthen •Nathan •Elizabethan, Ethan •Phaethon • python • leviathan •Jonathan • marathon • earthen •Carmarthen • leathern • heathen •northern • southern • burthen •Avon, Cavan, cavern, raven, tavern •Caernarfon, Dungarvan, Javan •Wilhelmshaven • Tórshavn •Bevan, Devon, eleven, Evan, heaven, leaven, Pleven, seven, Severn •Hesvan •craven, graven, haven, maven, shaven, Stratford-upon-Avon •even, Sivan, Steven •driven, forgiven, given, misgiven, Niven, riven, shriven, thriven •silvern, sylvan •Godgiven • Sullivan •enliven, Ivan, liven •cloven, interwoven, woven •Beethoven • Eindhoven • proven •coven, govern, misgovern, oven, sloven •cordovan • Donovan • Quechuan •Bronwen • Iowan

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